Gasifier for heating industrial appliances



Feb. 23, 1937. J. W. NELSON ,0 2

\GASIfiIER FOR HEATING INDUSTRIAL APPLIANCES Filed Ma 29, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 JJE/VenZ EQ. (70km l V. /VeZ5 017/.

Patented Feb. 23, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GASIFIER FOR HEATING INDUSTRIAL APPLIANCES poration of Illinois Application May 29, 1933, Serial No. 673,497

3 Claims.

The purpose of this invention is to'provide an improved means for producing from fuel oil highy combustible gas for heating industrial appliances.

The invention consists in the elements and features of construction shown and described and indicated in the claims.

In the drawings: v

Figure l is a vertical section of an apparatus embodying thisinvention in one of its forms.

Figure 2 is a similar view of a slightly modified form.

Figure 3 is a partly sectional side elevation of the third form, section being taken through the heat-treatment chamber in a vertical plane from 15' front to rear.

Figure 4 is a section at the line 4-4 on Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a section at the line 55 on Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a section at the line 6-6 on Figure 3.

Figure '7 is a section at the line |'l on Figure 3.

Referring to the drawings in detail: I

In the form shown in Figure 1, A is a casing made of refractory material, as fire brick, indicated at a, which may be molded integrally, and which is shown exteriorly provided with a sheet metal surface covering indicated at 11 This casing contains an oven orheat-treatment chamber, A the lower part of which, indicated at A is separated from the upper part by means position the substance to be heat-treated. Said the chamber, A at an intermediate part'of thedimen'sion of the chamber from front to rear; said shelf being lodged at its ends on abutments formed by narrow vertical ribs, A projecting inwardly from the casing wall, and preferably supported at the middle part of its length by a stool or post, A whichprojects up from the bottom of the chamber.

An upwardly swinging door, A at the front side affords access to the oven chamber for introducing 'and' removing the supporting member,

55 A and/or the heat-treated'a'rticle or substancel in'dicatedat A for supporting in heat-treatment An aperture, ed, at the upper side of the casing constitutes a vent passage for the products of combustion after they have done their work of heat-treatment in the heat-treatment chamber and the Waste heat remaining after said products of combustion have parted with the greater portion of their heat to the heat-treated substanceis utilized for heating a retort indicated at B, mounted in a chamber member, C, which is shown erected on top of the oven casing, A. This retort member, B, may be understood to be made of metal anddesirably thin for being quickly heated through, by the waste heat current from the'heat-treatment chamber. Said retort member has a cover, B bolted fluid tight to the retort body, B, to make the retort chamber completely sealed except as to the oil inlet connection and gas outlet connection hereinafter described.

The retort chamber is partitioned at its upper part andnearly 'to the bottom by a partitioning web, b which is shown formed integral with the" cover, B extending down into the retort chamber making a sealed'joint at its vertical edges with the inner surface of the chamber Wall and terminating at its lower edge a short distance from the bottom of the retort chamber, leaving a passage b constituting the sole communication between the compartments, b and b of the retort chamber, and thereby between the oil inlet 10" and gas outlet ll, arranged as hereinafter described, at the upper ends of the chamber compartments, b and b respectively.

As shown in Figure 1, the retort, B, is supported from an air pipe line, D, provided for a further purpose hereinafter explained, leading from a source of air under pressure, not shown, but which may be understood'tobe a force fan or pump or compressed air chamber. A valve, D controls the flow of air through said air pipe line. An oil pipe line, E, leads from a source of fuel oil which may be a tank, not'shown in Figure 1 but indicated at E in Figure 2, which is preferably for safety, against accidental fire, located, as shown, at 'a'lowlevel, the oil being fed from the tank through the pipe line, E, by a pump such as that indicated at E in Figure 2.

The connection of the oil pipeline, E, with the retort chamber is made by means of a valve fitting indicated at E having its valve, 6 adapted to restrict the flow of oil into the retort chamber very closely, so that in fact the oil'will be delivered at its emergence'from'theoil conduit into the'retort chamber'finely subdivided, and thereby adapted to be gasified upon exposure to the heat radiating from the retort wall, preferably without contact therewith in liquid condition, such gasification, whether upon contact or without contact of the liquid being effected by the heat communicated to the retort from the Waste heat emerging from the heat-treatment chamber, as above described.

The retort mounted, as described, depending from the air pipe line, D, is connected to said air pipe line at the under side thereof a four-way fitting, D, by means of a pipe nipple, l2, connected at the gas outlet of the retort chamber. Said four-way fitting, D, at the side opposite that at which it is connected to the air pipe line, is connected, as by the right-and-left threaded coupling, 29, to a three-way fitting, 2|, having leading from each of the two opposite limbs thereof, branch pipe lines, 22, 22, having each two branches, 22 22 leading to burners, F, F, F, F, located below the heat-treated-substance-supporting member, A of the heat-treatment chamber. When the gas is ignited at these burners the heat produced is directed against the under side of said supporting member and the material to be heat-treated thereon, and the products of combustion pass up at both sides of the heating member and are discharged through the vent aperture, (1 in the top of the casing, A.

The air pipe line, D, at its connection with the fitting, D terminates in an injector nozzle, d, which protrudes in the cavity of the fitting, D entirely across the same into the opposite limb of said fitting and slightly into the entrance of the coupling, 20, which coupling is interiorly reamed, as seen at 20 (see Fig. to taper said entrance somewhat in conformity to the exterior taper of the nozzle terminal, d, of the air pipe line, so that the discharge of air from the nozzle directed into the passage of the coupling, 20, entrains the gas in the fitting and in the fitting, 2| which connects said fitting with the retort chamber, and sucks the gas from the retort chamber, reducing the pressure in that chamber below atmospheric and maintaining constant withdrawal of the gas from the retort chamber as fast as it is generated from the oil heated to the point of gasification in the manner described.

For initially heating the retort to gasify the oil to produce a combustible gas which may be ignited at its discharge from the burners, F, as described, in the construction shown in Figure 1, the four-way fitting, D is connected at its fourth limb opposite the nipple connection with the retort by a pipe line, 25, with a source of gas, as the public service gas system; and upon opening the valve, 26, controlling said public service gas line, and the valve, D controlling the air pipe line, aerated gas is delivered to and may be ignited at all the burners, F. When by this means the retort is heated to the proper temperature for gasifying oil, the operator will open the oil control valve, e*, to admit oil at a properly restricted rate to the retort; and after the few seconds necessary for the gas generated from the oil to be entrained by the injected air along with the gas from the public service gas line, the gas control valve, 26, will be closed and the burners will then be supplied by the aerated gas produced from the fuel oil in the manner described.

Referring to the form shown in Figure 2:-

When public service gas is not available, or it is preferred not to use it for starting the furnace, there is substituted for the four-way fitting, D a three-way fitting, (2*, and preliminary heating is effected by an oil burner shown at F hereinafter called the starter burner, which may be of any familiar form for burning fuel oil, connected to the oil pipe line, E, by a branch line, 30, in which the flow of oil is controlled by a valve, 3!, said starter burner, F being mounted for discharge into the heat-treatment chamber through an air mixing passage, 40, formed in the rear wall of the heat-treatment chamber. A shutter for this air passage shown at 4| opened when the starter burner is to be put in service, will be closed when the retort is sufficiently heated to supply the burners, F, with the gas produced from the fuel oil by gasification and aeration as described, so that the starter burner may be shut off.

In the form shown in Figure 3, the part of the structure comprising the oven or heat-treatment chamber is mounted above the part comprising the retort and the oil and air connections constituting gasifying means. In this form for supplying the preliminary burner, a branch pipe, 50, from the oil pipe line, E, is provided with a controlling valve, 53. This pipe, 50, leads to a mix ing burner, 5|, mounted at and closing an opening in the wall of the retort heating chamber, C corresponding to the chamber member, C, of Figures 1 and 2.

The mixing burner is connected also with a branch, 52, of the air pipe line, D, said branch line, 52, being provided with a control valve, 54, which will be operated simultaneously with the oil control valve, 53, so that the burner, 5|, is furnished with a proper air and oil mixture not dependent as to proportions on the oil picking up air from the atmosphere at its discharge as in the form shown in Figure 2, the proportions of air and oil being, on the contrary, regulated by the adjustment of the valves, 53 and 54, controlling respectively the oil and air.

In this form it will be seen that the preliminary burner, 5|, operates for heating the retort only, the heating gases being vented to atmosphere around the retort at the upper end of the retort heating chamber.

In this form the air and vapor mixture pipe, 55, leads upwardly from any convenient point beyond to the injector nozzle, (1, to the rear of the oven casing for connection with a valve fitting, 2| from which discharge pipe lines, 22, corresponding to the pipe lines, 22, of Figures 1 and 2, lead to burners, F.

In this form the connection to a burner 8|] for continuously heating the retort after the preliminary burner is out 01f comprises a gas line, 60, connected to the discharge from the retort, which discharge in this form, comprises a T-fitting, 62, interposed between the retort and the three-way fitting, (2 in the air and gas mixture pipe line 55, leading to the oven. The gas line, 60, is connected to a T-fitting, 64, said T-fitting, 64, having connected to one limb of the cross of the T, a nozzle, 66, which terminates a short pipe line branch, 10, from the main air supply pipe, D. Said main air line terminates in an injection nozzle, 12, within the air and gas mixture pipe line, 55, and the air supply to this nozzle, d, is controlled by the valve, 51. Said branch, 70, connected by its terminal nozzle, 66, with the gas line, 60, at one limb of the cross of said T-fittlng, 84, is by said T-fitting connected to a pipe line, 61, leading from the other limb of the cross of the T, to the retort heating burner, 80. The pipe line, 61, thus becomes an aerated gas line for supplying the burner, 80. An air control valve, 68, is interposed in said branch line, 10, for controlling the air supply through the injector nozzle, 66, to said aerated gas line which supplies the retort heating burner, 80.

By this construction it may be seen that the retort and the oven or heat-treatment chamber are each continuously heated by burners supplied with aerated gas of which the gas is generated from fuel oil and supplied in quantities suitable for the heating duty required by the retort and oven respectively, the proportions of air and gas being variable as may be judged desirable for any reason.

In actual practice of this invention when using commercial forms and qualities of fuel oil for producing the highly combustible gas desirable for the purpose indicated, and with the retort of the form and construction shown, a temperature of 1000 F. which is readily produced in the retort, is found to gasify the oil at its emergence from the oil conduit into the retort without the delay for the oil to drop into contact with the bottom of the retort, the gasificatio-n being effected by the heat radiated from the retort wall, and the temperature named operating on the commercial form and quality of oil used, does not merely vaporize the oil, using that term in the common sense of rendering it lighter than atmosphere, but converts it into a true gas. But I do not limit myself to the use of oil of the quality indicated, nor to the means for producing in the retort the temperature for thus fully gasifying the oil as distinguished from vaporizing it; nor to construction avoiding the actual contact of the oil in liquid condition with the retort wall, and in my claims the term gas is intended to include vapor, but not to be limited to vapor as distinguished from gas.

I claim:

1. A gas generating apparatus consisting of a retort comprising a vertically extending chamber having therein a vertically extending partition dividing the chamber into two compartments positioned laterally with respect to each other, said compartments having relatively narrow flow communication with each other at the lower end of said partition, and being otherwise non-communicating, said chamber having an inlet at the upper end of one of said compartments; a conduit from a source of liquid fuel connected at said inlet and constituting a fuel supply connection,

said compartment being otherwise completely sealed against inflow, the other compartment having at the upper end an outlet and an outlet conduit connected at said outlet constituting an outlet connection for gaseous fuel delivered by the retort, said second compartment being otherwise completely sealed against outflow, said fuel supply connection of the first compartment being narrowly restricted for retarding inflow of the liquid fuel, and said outlet connection of the second compartment being free of obstruction to fluid outflow.

2. In the construction defined in claiml, in combination, a conduit leading into said outlet connection from a source of gaseous fuel independent of the retort, a pipe line from a source of air under pressure terminating in a nozzle intruded into the outlet connection from the second compartment of the retort for discharge in the direction of flow through said outlet connection away from the retort and at a point beyond the connection of said conduit from the independent source with said retort outlet connection.

3. A gas generating apparatus consisting of a retort comprising a vertically extending chamber having therein a vertically extending partition dividing the chamber into two compartments positioned laterally with respect to each other, means for applying heat to the lateral walls of said chamber for conduction through said walls and radiation therefrom into said compartments, said compartments having a relatively narrow flow communication with each other at the lower end of said partition and being otherwise noncommunicating, one compartment having a restricted inlet at the upper end, and means for supplying liquid fuel through said inlet, said compartment being unobstructed between said inlet and the lower end at which it communicates with the other compartment so that the fuel admitted through said restricted inlet may fall freely through the compartment and will be converted to gaseous form by the heat therein but without contact with the heated walls, the other compartment having at its upper end an unobstructed outlet and means for inducing outflow therethrough to draw the gaseous fuel from the retort;

JOHN W. NELSON. 

